


A Cold Night in Winters

by kumarei



Category: Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-24
Updated: 2011-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-28 01:43:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/302352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kumarei/pseuds/kumarei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is kidnapped by evil aliens. With no hope of escape, there's only one thing that he can do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Cold Night in Winters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JackOfNone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackOfNone/gifts).



> Just thought I would give you a Christmas present. I know you were disappointed there were no fics in this fandom this year.
> 
> Happy Yuletide!

Ever since Jeff left, the room felt very empty. Tony found himself staring at Jeff’s empty bed as he lay there, trying to sleep. He didn’t want to think about Jeff, about what kind of danger he would be in, but he couldn’t help it.

Even though he had asked the player to keep Jeff safe, he felt sure that the mission that Jeff was on was going to put him in danger. Tony couldn’t stand the thought that he might have seen his best friend for the last time. Jeff had so rarely been happy lately, and Tony despaired of ever seeing his cheerful face again.

Tony sighed, and closed his eyes. He had just started to drift off to sleep, when there was was the sound of glass smashing. Tony’s eyes flew open and he looked around. There was some kind of silver creature standing there outlined against the window. It was over six feet tall, and it was looking at him with cold black eyes.

“W… what do you want?” Tony asked.

The thing was silent. It merely stepped forward and raised its arm. There was a flash, and then everything went dark.

 

The next thing that Tony felt was motion. There was the feeling of sinking, and then a shaking, and finally a small impact. Tony tried to move, but it was all he could do to open his eyes a tiny bit. It didn’t help anyway. It was completely dark where he was.

There was a hissing and a sudden cold wind, and there was a bit of light framing a large silver creature.

It stepped forward and lifted Tony. Tony bounced on its shoulder as it carried him out the door and into the cold snow. It was night, but he was able to make out some of the details around him. They were moving toward the center of a circle of large stones. Even in his addled condition, Tony thought it was likely they were at Stonehenge.

At the center of the landmark, they began to descend. They entered a cavern, and then went through a hole in one of the walls. That was when things got strange.

They emerged on a glowing purple pathway. Tony wondered if he was hallucinating, although then again he had been kidnapped by some kind of strange alien. Maybe this entire thing was a dream. It was certainly surreal enough, although it had a distinctly real feeling to it. Tony hoped that he was dreaming, but he doubted that he was.

The alien carried him down a maze of pathways, and Tony suddenly realized that he would probably never be able to get back out. Of course, he would have to get free before he could even think of navigating that maze, and that seemed unlikely. Even if he did escape, and manage to remember the path, it would be impossible to get out. There were more of these silver aliens all over the place, as well as other kinds. Strange metal balls on feet and tentacled creatures. Tony shuddered.

The alien carried him through another door, and suddenly the environment looked a lot more sensible, although no more reassuring. They had entered some sort of factory. Once again, it was filled with silver aliens.

They moved through the corridors, passed through a room where Tony thought that he saw mice huddling in the corner, shivering as they passed through. Then an area where the lights blinked on and off.

Finally, the alien carried Tony into a room where large cylindrical tanks grew from a platform in the center of the room. Large cables connected them to the ceiling.

The alien deposited Tony on the floor, and Tony discovered that he wasn’t the only one there. There was a rotund man in bright red laying next to him, and nearby was a man in a labcoat, with wild hair. Tony thought that he recognized the latter scientist. He closely resembled Dr. Andonuts, Jeff’s father.

Tony forced himself to open and close his mouth a few times. He had regained quite a bit of his motion, but he still couldn’t stand. He wouldn’t be able to run, even if he could.

“Hello?” he said, forcing his head to turn toward the nearby pudgy young man.

The young man didn’t turn, but he did answer. “Hello? Who is that?”

“I’m Tony. Who are you?”

“I’m the Apple Kid. I’m an inventor.”

“An inventor?” said the nearby scientist. “I’ve never heard of you.”

“Who are you?” Apple Kid asked.

“I’m Dr. Andonuts, of course,” said the scientist.

“Dr. Andonuts!” Tony said. “It is you! I’m a friend of Jeff’s.”

“Jeff… Jeff…” Dr. Andonuts thought for a moment. “Don’t think I know a Jeff.”

“Your son,” Tony said. “He’s my best friend at boarding school.”

“Oh, that Jeff,” Dr. Andonuts said. “Hard to keep track of everyone. So much to think about, you know.”

“What’s going on here?”

“Well, obviously we’ve been kidnapped,” Dr. Andonuts said.

“I know that, but why?”

“Who knows? The more important thing is that machine over there. It’s astonishing! Almost as brilliant as my own works!”

“What does it do?”

“Not a clue! But it’s very interesting.”

Apple Kid, who had been silent for most of the conversation, spoke up. “Umm… I think it’s a tagonistic energy siphon,” he said.

“Preposterous! You’re not even a real inventor! You’re probably just making that up!” Dr. Andonuts said.

“N… no, I’m pretty sure.”

“What does that mean?” Tony asked.

“It takes characters in a story and drains their narrative energy,” Apple Kid said. “I’m not sure what they’d use it for, though. They seem to be collecting secondary characters.”

“Secondary characters!” raged Dr. Andonuts. “How dare you impugn my narrative importance!”

“What are we going to do?” Tony asked, ignoring his friend’s father.

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do,” Apple Kid said.

They were silent for a moment. Then an alien walked in and deposited another man onto the floor. He was some kind of hippie, with a peace necklace and bright red hair.

Tony waited until the alien left before he spoke again.

“I think there might be something we can do,” he said.

“What is it?” Apple Kid asked.

“Preposterous,” Dr. Andonuts said. "How could you think of an idea that I have not? There's clearly nothing we can do."

“Well, it's not something we can do exactly,” Tony said. “But… there might be something that you can do, reader.”

“Reader?” Apple Kid asked.

“I mean the person reading this story right now. Anyway, umm… reader, I want to ask you to do something. Do you think that you could find Jeff for me? He’s on an adventure, seeing the world and fighting against zombies and stuff. This seems like the kind of thing that he could deal with.

“I know this might be difficult, but you can contact him using a game called Earthbound for the Super Nintendo. I… I think it’s our only hope. I don’t know what we’ll do if he can’t rescue us.”

“Do you think that will work?” Apple Kid asked.

“I don’t know, but I had to try,” Tony said. “We’ll just have to trust the reader.”

At that moment, an alien entered yet again. It began to pick people up from the floor and deposit them into the capsules. A second one entered and lifted Tony from the floor. It slid him inside the clear receptacle, and closed the door. Warm liquid began to splash down to fill it. Tony tried desperately to pound his fists against the glass, and then to tread the liquid that was overtaking him, but it was in vein. He still hadn’t fully recovered from the alien’s paralyzing attack.

As the liquid covered his head, he began to lose consciousness again. Everything began to go dark.

“Oh, no…” he managed to mutter. “Can't see anything… Jeff! … Where… is… Jeff…”

Far below him, something in the factory began to chug to life. As he slipped away into unconsciousness, he heard a pounding sound. Something was stirring.


End file.
